


The Last One

by Layandree



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bittersweet but with more bitter than sweet, Depressing, Force-Sensitive Clones (Star Wars), Gen, Sad, Talks about past deaths, Tattoo backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 08:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19127950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Layandree/pseuds/Layandree
Summary: “You never told me about your tattoo.”“I never did, did I?” Tup murmured, pensive.





	The Last One

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I'm posting anything here, so I'm a little nervous... The first time I'm writing in english too, so if there's any mistake or weirdly shaped sentence, please let me know, it's only my second language. 
> 
> So, this takes place just slightly before the battle of Ringo Vinda, and some clones are force sensitive.

* * *

 

 

“You never told me about your tattoo.”

Fives' voice almost startled Tup, waking him from the light doze he had fallen in. He mulled over his words, willing himself to fully wake up. The air was heavy, the weather bound to burst into a storm, and they were waiting for the space battle to end so a ship could pick them up for two days now. All around them, piles of clones were sleeping, talking quietly, cleaning their weapons or still with the medics in the makeshift medbay.

“I never did, did I?” Tup murmured, pensive.

Fives shook his head, sitting close enough that Tup felt it. The younger one looked down at his hands idly plucking bits of grass, a lump in his throat.

“It's for D–” He had to swallow to get his throat to work enough to get his name out. “For Dogma.”

Fives didn't make any sound. He just put his hand on Tup's shoulder, tugging him close.

“For Dogma?” He prompted gently.

Tup blinked to get the burn away from his eyes. A hush slowly rose inside him. He had to tell the story, so if he died tomorrow, someone would remember. He nodded.

“When we were children,” he started. “We had just started the training, it was hard. I cried a lot at that time.” And only once since. But he had wept enough that last time to make up for those years without. Just after Umbara. He had stepped on the ship, alone, battered, exhausted, and two hours later he had just began weeping uncontrollably. It was Kix that had found him, and had cried with him. He blinked again, hoping the memories would fade someday.

“Got a lot of bullying for that too,” he muttered. “The thing is, Dogma was different then. He loved to talk all night, and play games and hugging.” Tup smiled fondly, reminiscing, and propped his head on Fives' shoulder. “And every time I cried, he just took my head in his hands and kissed my tears away. It always worked. Every single time.”

He had to stop for a second, focusing on his breathing. He felt numb and too much at the same time. Fives slowly rubbing circles on his shoulder was helping a little, though. Lost in his memories, he closed his eyes.

“Then he changed, suddenly, when we were seven. One of our brother went missing. When we asked the Kaminoans, they said he was sick, and that he had to be taken away for a while before he contaminated us. But we couldn't see him, not even behind a window or something.”

And that was when it had began, he remembered. Dogma was with him when he was taken away. They had asked him if he was truly sick. He had paled, Tup remembered as if it was yesterday, and he had looked away, and he had said yes. And after that… He never went back to the Dogma he was before. Tup realised he had stopped talking for quite some time, so he cleared his throat and continued.

“Then a week later, they came back to tell us he had died from his illness. I cried so hard that night. And Dogma never came and eventually I stopped crying entirely. We all knew he wasn't sick. We all knew he had been taken away because he could lift things with his mind. That he had been terminated.”

Tup stopped again. It was just as hard as he thought it would be. Maybe a little harder even. Fives' hand had tensed on his shoulder, painfully enough to keep him in the present.

“And Dogma…” His voice had dropped to just a whisper. Could he… It didn't matter anymore, he supposed. “He _dreamed_ , you know? Every night. About things that were happening somewhere in the galaxy, important things. Or things that would happen, or maybe things that had happened. We didn't know at that time. Still don't. What mattered was that he dreamed. And it was forbidden. It was defective. And one of us was taken away right under his nose to be terminated.”

His next breath had trouble passing around the big lump in his throat. He tried again to swallow it down, without success.

“And he was scared. Terrified. He didn't want to…to _die_.” His voice cracked, so he stopped and breathed until he had it under control. “So he had to become the best soldier, you know? He had to follow every single order, he had to be the ideal soldier for the Kaminoans. Our batch was watched closely, to see if there was another defective one, and they would have found him if he didn't change. That way they were proud of him. He was just like a machine, just like they wanted us to be. He couldn't be defective. So they didn't find him. It was when we started calling him Dogma. And then… He lost his way, I guess, sometime ago. I got this tattoo to remember how he was, and so that maybe, someday, he would remember too. But he never came back. And now he'll never be back. He was the last one, too, it's only me, now.”

Something wet hit his hand. He slowly lifted his gaze, barely in time to see Fives wipe his eyes with the back of his hand. “I'm so, so sorry,” Fives blurted out, trying to get his feelings in check. Tup just watched him and smiled faintly.

“It's alright you know, it's been months now. I'm fine.”

“No, it's not. And no, you're not fine. You'll never be fine, no one will. But I'll be here, and everyone else too, and we'll be not fine together. And someday this war will end and we'll all go somewhere, together, and maybe we'll start being okay.”

Tup was silent for a moment. This future didn't seem so bad. Assuming they'd survive until the end of the war. He was beginning to feel slightly less numb thanks to Fives' words. He was so grateful to have him as his friend. His presence brought warmth in everyone around him and Tup felt privileged sometimes that Fives was so willing to share it with him. It occurred to him suddenly that Fives was alone too.

“You lost them too, didn't you? Your batch.”

For a while only silence answered him.

“Yeah,” Fives said eventually, his voice rough. “We wore our name well. You probably heard of us, we were kind of the laughing stock of Tipoca City. The Domino Squad. And we fell one by one like dominoes. Our batch was decimated on our first mission. We were on Rishi's moon's station. Nothing happened, day after day. Then it did. Commando droids were sent during a meteor shower to make sure no one alerted the Republic of the incoming invasion of Kamino. Droidbait died first, so fast we didn't even register we were down to four. We ran outside, and Cutup was eaten alive by a giant eel. Then Rex and Cody came, and we went to retake the base. When we couldn't keep it, we decided to blow it up. Something went wrong, someone had to make it explode manually. Hevy didn't tell us that until we were all outside, and sacrificed himself.”

His monotonous tone didn't fool Tup. He lifted his hand to the one Fives had on his shoulder, and clutched it.

“Echo was my last one,” Fives said with much difficulty. “We were ARCs together. Inseparable. We always had each other's back, and always would. Or that's what we thought. You weren't out of Kamino yet, when he died, right? Well he was the best man, the best trooper, the best ARC ever. He was so smart, and talented. He made _one_ mistake. The only time he did something spontaneously. And he paid for it. I failed to protect him. It was the mission on the Citadel, heard about it? He got blown up with our escape shuttle.”

His grip on Tup's shoulder tightened and he took a moment to calm down.

“I was in a bad place after that. But Rex watched over me, and kicked my arse when I got too useless. He got me out and made me be me again. We've all lost and lost and lost some more. You're the last of your batch, I'm the last of mine. Rex too. Jesse. Kix had Hardcase, but now he's the last too, because of me.”

Tup shook his head. “Hardcase made his choice and died a hero. You didn't _make_ him do anything. We all know that, including Kix, who forgave you long ago. It's time you know it too, Fives. You are not responsible for his death.”

Fives just shrugged, not willing to argue about that right now. “The point is no one is fine, but it's okay. We can find ourselves other families and try again, until we join everyone we lost in wherever we go when we die.”

The dull silence fell again, lulled conversations like their own heard in the distance. Tup, nestled against the warmth of Fives' arm, felt the sleepiness taking over him once again.

“I'm sorry about the depressing conversation,” he muttered, already half asleep. “I'll smile again tomorrow, I swear.”


End file.
